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Mid-Week Meditations

A flock of geese crossed the southern sky during the second quarter of the high school football game. I looked at their silhouettes against the evening clouds,noting that something was wrong.

Usually geese are known for flying in a V formation. That’s what I expected. But these geese, although heading the same direction, were in chaos. One was in the lead, but the others were scattered to the left, the right, and elsewhere without any visible plan.

At first I thought they had just taken off and would soon find their familiar pattern. But that didn’t happen, even as they flew out of sight.

I wanted to shout at them, “Guys, you need some order!”

My limited knowledge of geese tells me that the V formation is done for aerodynamic purposes. Would these geese tire more quickly without their usual flight pattern? Had they never been taught how to fly?

We expect order and organization in certain things in our lives. When that doesn’t happen, we wonder what has gone wrong. We rely on patterns that hold true, but sometimes we discover that geese are not the only ones that need to get their act together. Even within ourselves we sometimes find chaos.

In the beginning…the earth was without form or shape,

with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.

As I looked out the third-floor window, my eyes rested on the tops of the maple trees surrounding the nearby parking lot. The sun shone on them, allowing me to see how each tree was starting to turn red…from the top down.

At street level I may not have noticed the crimson shade spreading from the very highest branches of these trees. Were the highest leaves turning first because it was cooler there, because there was more exposure to the sun or less sap from the roots? All I know is that I learned a lesson: trees do not change colors uniformly.

Fall coloration, a highlight of October for many of us, is a process. We see little signs of color changes. We notice some trees exhibiting reds and oranges before others. And we are usually disappointed when the peak season doesn’t linger longer…or when we miss it for some reason.

Change is sometimes sudden and sometimes takes time. It does not always come easily or speedily. It is change itself that we need to embrace.

Brilliance of color delights us, but not all changes come with majestic displays of reds, yellows, and oranges. To live is to change. As we discover and accept change, we also learn to let go of the familiar for the unknown.

More and more frequently I put on some music and spend time reading before going to bed. Sometimes, like now, I write instead of read. And at times, I just sit and think.

The music varies, but it is mostly classical. Ending the day with Sibelius, Bruch, or Brahms is unbeatable. The hour of the day, along with the music, helps my soul both soar and become restive at the same time.

For years I have felt that people do not have enough time for quiet reflection. Most people’s days are like being on a treadmill with someone turning up the speed. Events happen and conversations take place. Yet little time is spent processing what has been going on in one’s life.

My goal in writing these weekly meditations has always been to help other people reflect on what is viewed and experienced each day. It’s not just what I write that matters. I also desire to help others learn to make their own observations.

In the midst of all these little daily discoveries, God can easily be found. But first there has to be some time to reflect. For me that is what the time before going to bed is for.

“In those days he departed to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer to God.”

I picked up a handful of buckeyes that had fallen from a tree at the local metro-park. Just at that moment a ranger walked up and reminded me that I could not take anything out of the park!

Just so you know, I am a strong advocate for protecting parks and don’t even pick wild flowers. Without thinking, however, I had been attracted to the buckeyes simply because they are fun to collect. With the ranger’s warning, I dropped my pickings on the ground.

And then, to justify myself, I asked why it mattered, ‘since those buckeyes would just lie on the ground until it snowed.’ The ranger quickly corrected me that squirrels love buckeyes and even store them up for the winter ahead. Did I want to deprive some squirrel of its Christmas dinner?

As if on cue, several more buckeyes fell from the tree at that point. We looked up, and there was a squirrel shaking the branch and causing them to fall.

I deferred to the ranger and walked away. Regardless of this moment of embarrassment, I still like buckeyes – both the kind that grows on the tree and the kind that plays football.

“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty,

The pink flower on the edge of the pond made me smile. I had not seen a mallow for several years. They grow in marsh areas, often rooted right in the water. The blooms are large and attractive, about the same size and shape as the domestic hibiscus.

In ancient days – going back to the times of the Romans and before – these flowers were known for their edible quality. The white interior of the root could be cooked into a delectable treat, the original marshmallow.

Nowadays we have confectioners’ creations of marshmallows. But before s’mores or mugs of hot chocolate demanded our present version, there were treats found directly in nature.

I have never cut open a root of a mallow. Who would want to disturb such beautiful plants? But I would do so if I were stranded on an island and running out of food. Marshmallows could possibly keep me alive – and happy – for a long time.

Many evenings just after dusk I can hear the shriek of a night hawk coming from the small woods a hundred yards east of my back yard. It may be a sound of terror for some small animals, but for me it is simply a sound of the night.

While sitting on the patio the other evening, hoping once again to hear the hawk, I spied an owl on the very top of the pole near the high school baseball field. I didn’t see it land there, but its silhouette against the dark gray sky showed that it was looking over the field for some small creature to venture forth.

I often wonder what life is like after dark. There must be an entire world out there of insects, mammals, birds, and more. By day everything looks calm and predictable. At night there are both predators and prey among the local wildlife.

Sadly, I feel left out of the night life of nature. As I have grown older, I have come more and more not simply desirous of knowing the natural world but also finding my place alongside all that nature has to offer. In short, I want to experience kinship with all these beloved creatures of God.

This desire itself has helped me appreciate the magnitude of God’s love that led to the incarnation of God’s son, one who lived in our world and with us.

“And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory….”